Observations

Eagle River: South Fork

Red flags (obvious signs of instability):

• Active wind loading
• Human triggered micro wind slabs (~1″ thick) upper elevation leeward terrain
• Human triggered loose snow avalanches (sheltered upper elevation terrain)

Weather:

• Morning: mostly cloudy skies with some isolated and quickly passing snow showers, moderate SE wind, and alpine temps in the upper teens
• Afternoon: cloudy skies becoming obscured with intensifying and widespread snowfall, strong SE winds, and alpine temps increasing to the mid 20s

Surface conditions:

• Solid and supportable melt-freeze crust with a dusting of fresh snow across most aspects and elevations above ~2000′
• Thin, breakable, and generally unsupportable melt-freeze crust on northerly aspects below ~3500′
• Loose, dry snow on northerly aspects above ~3500′ (low volume, slow moving sluff)
• Soft, thin wind slabs developing on upper elevation leeward terrain from fresh snow and strong SE wind

Snowpack:

Snowpack, other than fresh surface instabilities (as mentioned above) from new snow and wind, generally stable and “locked-up” from last week’s warm temperatures followed by solid nighttime freezing over the weekend.  Conditions destabilizing and danger increasing through the day with strong winds, intensifying snowfall, and warm temperatures.

Front Range: Peak 3

Red flags (obvious signs of instability):

Weather:

Surface conditions:

• Pockets of fresh snow and wind slab but mostly supportable melt-freeze crust.  Hard to determine amount of new snow with wind distribution, but probably only around 1 inch.